


Small Steps

by twofoursixohone



Category: Holby City
Genre: Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, HAPPY OLLIE!!!!!!!!!, Written at 1am, and mentions of Tara obviously, because I hated how they ended it, because ollie deserves a happy ending, i really hope i finish this, post No Matter Where You Go There You Are part 2, so after Ollie's left basically, some hints of Olliteo, sorry it's not zollie lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 01:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14225814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twofoursixohone/pseuds/twofoursixohone
Summary: Oliver 3.0's story is just beginning...





	Small Steps

**Author's Note:**

> Written because I HATED how they ended Ollie's storyline, because he deserves a happy ending, and because Oliver 3.0 deserves his time to shine.
> 
> Title is from the Great Gatsby, chapter is written at 1am as usual. Set after "No Matter Where You Go, There You Are – Part Two".
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

“Can I help you?”  
Oliver Valentine turned around. The girl in front of him was short and plain, brown skin and brown hair tied in a neat ponytail, glasses perched on her upturned nose, and hands barely visible in her oversized cardigan.  
“Yes, um, do you have any career-specific books?” he questioned, “Or leaflets or anything on jobs?”  
“That depends what you're looking for. We have plenty of pamphlets if you're looking for information on careers, I think we have... academia, performing arts, finance, medicine...” She trailed off, “Again, depends what you want.”  
“I don't really know,” Ollie sighed, “Wouldn't happen to be any jobs going here?”  
“I don't think so,” the girl replied, “But the careers section is over there.”  
She led him over, albeit slowly because of Ollie's continuing struggle with mobility. Once there, he looked around. Alright, he thought, so it seemed more geared towards sixth formers who didn't know what to do with their lives, but he could work with that. He didn't know what to do with his life either. He grabbed a few random pamphlets.  
“Thanks...” he squinted at her name tag, “Claire.”  
“You're welcome,” she gave a smile before making her way over to a young child who had just walked in with his parents. Ollie watched her go before looking at the first thing he'd picked up, sighing as he read the title.  
Your Career in Medicine.  
He put it back.

*

“How's your week been?” Roxanna asked. She liked to drop in on him once in a while to see how he was adjusting to his new life, although, Ollie had observed, usually it was when she also needed advice on something. He may have been shot in the head, but she still trusted his opinion. Plus, she made good tea, so he allowed it. He liked seeing her, anyway.  
“Good. I went to the library today.”  
“Oh?”  
“I wanted to look at career ideas.”  
Her face fell, “Ollie, you know that's a little way off yet... you've only been out of the hospital just over a month...”  
“Look, I know I won't ever be a surgeon again,” he took a deep breath, “But I don't want to live off of benefits all my life. It's boring not working, boring not doing much of anything. I want to work, I want to date, I want to do all the things I did before I was shot.”  
“I know Ollie, but-”  
“We had our breakthrough Roxanna. I know I can do this. I'm not some vegetable in a hospital bed anymore.”  
She sighed, “Okay, but be careful. Nothing too difficult, nothing you'll get angry at yourself for if you can't do it straight away...”  
“I'm improving every day. I went to the library today, alone. I go to coffee shops, alone. I've been looking at jobs, driving lessons...”  
“Driving lessons?”  
“Point is, I'm doing just fine.”  
Roxanna sighed again, “I'll take your word for it then. But remember, small steps.”  
Ollie smiled, “Trust me, Oliver 3.0 is taking small steps and making big strides. New me, new start. Now, what's really on your mind? Gaskell being weird again?”

*

“Morning Oliver!” the blonde woman burst into his bedroom cheerfully, his laundry basket cradled in her arms. Ollie jolted awake, groaning.  
“Amber, I've said before, can't you come later? Let me have my lie in?” Amber was a carer assigned to drop in on him every day, to do all the things he still struggled to do, and to make sure he wasn't face down on the floor somewhere with no help in sight. Sure, she was overly perky, but he rather liked her. It was nice to have someone to talk to, his flat could get a little lonely at times.  
“No can do Ollie,” she smiled sympathetically, “Anything else to chuck on the pile?”  
“You know I am capable of doing my laundry, right?” he slowly managed to sit up in bed.  
“Oh let me have this, I had to bathe an old man last night,” she shuddered, grabbing a lone pair of socks off the floor, “You're an easy drop in.”  
“Might get you to bathe me then, if you're so insistent on helping me do everything I can already do.”  
“Cheeky!” Amber chuckled, “I'll let you put the washing powder in then, if you get out of bed.”  
“Ah, that caveat. Maybe not.”  
“Told you!” she singsonged as she left the room. Ollie rolled his eyes, settling back into bed. He supposed he couldn't complain. At least he didn't have to get out of bed for a little while longer.

*

That night, Ollie found himself, as he often did, sat at the desk in his room, furiously searching through old papers. It was almost an obsession, that much he knew, but for some reason he couldn't stop. Each new piece of information was like a drug to him. Tara's brain scans, old ideas for research projects, pictures (taken by Dom, of course) of his wedding to Zosia... He pieced together his old life, Ollie 1.0 and Ollie 2.0, snippets of the past flashing before his eyes. He remembered a lot, but not everything. He hadn't remembered the full extent of his pain when Tara or his sister had died, for example, or the anger he'd felt towards Zosia's father on their wedding day, or stupid, unrequited feelings for a fellow doctor in the wake of Zosia's departure...  
Whatever. So he wasn't completely over the previous versions of himself. Small steps.

*

**Author's Note:**

> Fingers crossed I can actually stick to finishing this. I've got a LOOOOOOOONG summer ahead of me so here's hoping that once these uni assessments are finally done I can write this whole thing!
> 
> Please leave kudos/a review! They make my day honestly!
> 
> Until next time!


End file.
